1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrical power controller. In particular, a power node that also provides networking functionality.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric power strips typically have a plurality of electrical outlets mounted within an enclosure and an attached power cord for electrically interconnecting the outlets with an AC power source. While modern power strips may include overload protection and/or surge protection, they do not generally include signal and power electronics enabling the power strip to be incorporated into a networked energy management system.
As home networking has become common, several types of networking have become important including wired ethernet, wireless IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee, Z-Wave wireless networking, and powerline networking including networking using protocols from HomePlug® Powerline Alliance, HD-PLC Alliance and/or IEEE P1901.